As a refrigerated showcase which refrigerates goods, such as foods and beverages, for preservation, there is a so-called showcase which is placed on a counter in, for example, a sushi bar, refrigerates and preserves fresh food materials like sushi materials stored therein, while displaying them (see Patent Document 1). As shown in FIGS. 23 and 24, for example, a refrigerated showcase 10 has a storage room 12 to refrigerate goods for preservation, and a machine room 14, provided adjacent to each other. A cooling unit, such as a compressor and an evaporator (neither shown), for cooling the storage room 12 is disposed in the machine room 14. The storage room 12 is defined inside an insulated box body 16 having a heat insulating structure with an insulating material 32, such as urethane foam, filled between an outer covering and an inner covering, and a front glass 18 is fitted in a front opening 56 formed at the front surface of the insulated box body 16 to show the interior of the storage room 12 from the front side.
As shown in FIG. 24, a goods doorway 20 with respect to the storage room 12 is formed at the rear surface of the insulated box body 16, and slide doors 22 are slidably mounted to the goods doorway 20, so that as the goods doorway 20 is opened by sliding the slide doors 22 leftward or rightward, goods are permitted to be taken in or out of the storage room 12.
A cooling plate 30 is disposed under an upper insulating layer 26 formed at the upper side of the storage room 12 in the insulated box body 16. An upper evaporator 34 connected to the cooling unit is disposed inside the upper insulating layer 26 in such a way as to contact the cooling plate 30, so that the coolant which is circulated to the upper evaporator 34 cools the cooling plate 30, thereby intermittently cooling the storage room 12.
A fluorescent lamp 36 as an illumination device is mounted to the upper portion of the storage room 12 by an illumination support 38 secured to the cooling plate 30. This fluorescent lamp 36 is protected by a transparent resin cover 40 to prevent degradation originating from electric leakage or rust which is caused by water splash at the time of washing, and prevent a food material container or the like from being broken by contact with the fluorescent lamp 36 at the time the container is placed in or out of the storage room 12. The fluorescent lamp 36 is set apart from the cooling plate 30 by a predetermined distance by the illumination support 38 to secure the heat exchange area of the cooling plate 30.
[Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei 8-327209